Ubuntu eCafe Netbook Runs on ARM, Has 13 Hours of Battery Life

So the long heralded ‘flood’ of ARM netbooks on to the shelves barely even materialised as a drop, with a drop in demand for netbooks and massive growth spurt in touch-screen Tablet devices seemingly diverting attention elsewhere.

PC company Hercules are pinning their hopes on a ‘better late than never’ approach with the launch of a new ARM powered netbook series dubbed the ‘eCafé’.

The operating system appears to be a slightly modified version of Ubuntu 10.07 (yes, 10.07) for ARM devices, running the EFL Netbook Launcher.

The eCafe models start from £179 on Amazon UK.

Promotional video ahoy

Performance

Without a device in my hands to put through its paces I can’t attest to the actual performance or power of the eCafé netbooks.

The choice of the relatively antiquated i.MX515 processor – launched in 2009 – would make me hesitant before purchasing, particularly as reviews of Toshiba’s AC100-AU, which shipped with Android, were lukewarm at best – and that came with a dual core 1GhzTegra A9 chip!

But the eCafé’s, as small and meek as they seem, are said to handle 1080p video playback, web browsing, office documents and other everyday tasks with ease. And that’s without mentioning the long battery life, claimed 14 day standby, lightweight build and general portability.